


Games Dolls Play

by Welfycat



Category: Dollhouse
Genre: Community: whedonland, Drabble Collection, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-23
Updated: 2010-12-23
Packaged: 2017-10-14 00:31:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/143343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Welfycat/pseuds/Welfycat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Topher has a different way of playing. Based on Haunted (episode 10, season 1). A series of 10 interrelated drabbles.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Games Dolls Play

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Whedonland challenge 36: Your Choice  
> Content notes: Moral ambiguity/amorality (pretty much on the same level of the series)

1\. Cowboys and Indians, or as Topher preferred to called it: 'Aggressive white men in big hats and Native American stereotypes' was what started it all. He'd needed to test that imprints would stay firmly in place when put under more stress than a simple dinner conversation engagement. He'd rounded up bows and arrows with suction cups, nerf guns, and cowboy hats and settled everyone out into the main area for a stand off. Now, with the budget of the Dollhouse much more impressive, Topher could stage massive battles with elaborate costumes and more advanced, though still non-leathal, weapons. He still got chills whenever Echo strolled out across the floor, her eyes scanning over the chairs for her enemy, the click of her boots the only sound in the room.

 

2\. This quickly progressed to Cops and Robbers, a game Topher had played as a child. It was much better now, Topher decided, that he had others to play with. He traded off; half of the time he was the hero cop who rushed in to save the poor helpless dolls as they huddled against the walls while Alpha stood over them menacingly, the other half he was like Robin Hood and his band of merry dolls, stealing the fake gold pieces with Victor and Sierra at his side while Echo edged closer, trying to get a clear shot. After the first game he programmed dramatic death responses for when they got shot with the nerf guns, falling to the floor with a groan and moaning in agony. In the fourth game, when Sierra dropped to the ground with tears running down her face, Topher had been stunned to see Victor sprint across from where he'd taken cover and cradle Sierra as she 'died'.

 

3\. Sometimes Topher tried his hand at things other than games, figuring that he was programming people, directing should be a piece of cake. Mashing together Death of a Salesman and Spanish soap operas had been more challenging than he'd originally anticipated, but he eventually found the balance between outbursts in a language that he only had a basic understanding of and dramatic monologues about selling things and bitter, deceitful lies. And, there was something entrancing, Topher thought, about Echo crying bitterly, pieces of dialogue mixed with colloquial Spanish while Victor, who made an excellent Willy Loman looked on with a growing shame and horror. The dolls were the perfect method actors; they believed everything he told them to.

 

4\. "Captain, we're approaching the nebula," Echo said as she looked up from the computer screen that had a preprogrammed screen saver running.

  
Topher ignored Echo's expression of mild concern and confusion and swung around in his chair. "Crewman, forward shields to maximum power," Topher ordered.

  
"Yes, sir!" Victor barked out with a little more force than necessary as he poked at buttons on a computer that didn't really do anything.

  
"We're ready to engage the enemy, the spawn of evil that is slowly seeping from this nebula! The scourge of the galaxy!" Topher exclaimed, leaping to his feet with one of his hands raised in the air dramatically.

  
The dolls all turned and stared, a little more blankly than usual. For some reason, this scenario seemed the hardest for them to accept as reality. They would respond to him but often seemed at a complete loss what to do independently. Topher chalked it up to not having savvy enough props and vowed to find room in his budget to go stalking sci-fi auctions.

 

5\. Topher admitted, though only to himself, that he'd stolen the idea shamelessly from Harry Potter. But it had seemed so cool in the movie that he couldn't quite resist.

  
"Pawn to C6," he commanded, and Kilo walked smoothly over to the floor tile that Topher had indicated.

  
"Knight to E4," Echo replied.

  
Sierra walked across the tile and tapped Mike on the shoulder before taking his place.

  
He'd been programming Echo, the queen, with more and more tactics, taking it slow at first before trying to fit as many algorithms about chess into her as possible. He was half hoping that one day she would beat him, but it hadn't happened yet.

  
"Check mate," Topher said firmly, three hours after they'd started.

  
Echo stared at him from three spaces away before putting her head to the side and responding, "I try to be my best."

 

6\. 'Topher Says' was one of Topher's favorite games, though it was something he only played when he was too worn out and had too many thoughts running through his head to bother to send everyone through the chair.

  
And, 'Topher Says' was fun in its own, non-complicated way. It wasn't anything like a tactical simulation or trying to see what the dolls were capable of. It was just simple and easy.

  
"Topher Says quack like a duck," he commanded, sprawled out on one of the tables as he watched the group of dolls obediently start quacking.

  
"Why?" Echo asked.

  
Of course it was Echo. It was always Echo. "Because it's a game, Echo. Remember, when I say 'Topher Says', you do whatever it is I say," he explained for what must have been the dozenth time.

  
"Why?" Echo asked again.

  
Topher just sighed and pressed his hands on his forehead. Sometimes dolls were just too much effort.

 

7\. "I think you'll find the evidence most compelling," Sierra said as she set the bag down on the desk and smoothing her skirt before she sat down.

  
"Really?" Topher asked, leaning forward. "Let's see what you've got."

  
"As you can see, there were quite a few marks left on the body, which perhaps suggests an amateur who is slowly gaining skill, and confidence," Sierra pointed to the bruises on the picture that Topher had printed out from the upstairs computer.

  
The picture was from a crime scene investigation show, and he'd wanted to see if he could get the dolls to solve the crime in fewer steps than the detectives on the show had.

  
"I see," Topher said and played with the ends of the fake mustache he had put on for the roll.

  
"I think we could have a serial killer on our hands," Sierra continued.

  
Echo and Victor came jogging into the room, out of breath.

  
"Sir, there's been another murder. We think it fits the pattern of the ones we've been investigating," Victor explained. There were lines on his forehead he looked very stressed. Echo looked a little uneasy and tearful, and Topher wondered if the fake body that he'd left for them to 'discover' might have been going a step too far.

  
"Let's go take a look," Topher said, and lead the way back to the sleeping pods where he had left the 'corpse'.

 

8\. One of the downsides of programming dolls was that he was still confined to what was humanly capable, for the most part. He could make dolls super smart, or have enhanced perception and senses, but he couldn't make them fly or have super strength or the ability to start fires with their minds. Yet.

  
So he took what he could get and ran with it. This was one of the few games that he took the sidelines on, unable to give him powers that would compete with the ones he was suiting the dolls up with. Echo seemed to naturally be the leader of her little band, no matter what powers he gave the other dolls. He observed from the top of the staircase as Echo lead Sierra and Victor through the maze of other 'super powered' enemies that he'd set up, wondering not just a little how much they could do.

 

9\. This was more than a little bit silly, Topher would agree to just about anyone who was watching, but it was enjoyable and more readily accepted than the idea of being on a space ship. Apparently a large bed sheet strung through the center of the room was enough for them to accept as the main sail of their ship, and eye patches and foam swords took care of the rest.

  
Topher stood at the 'helm' that he'd cobbled together and watched as Mike and Victor held a sword fight and Sierra and a few other dolls sat together singing a sea shanty.

  
Echo stood at the edge of the area that Topher had outlines as the ship, a plastic telescope clutched in her hands.

 

10\. They all sat around one of the tables, coffee cups and pastries scattered on top of textbooks and notebooks.

  
Priya had her bare feet up in Anthony's lap, her long hair tumbling forward as she bent over something she was writing. Caroline rolled her eyes a little bit at the scene, but the slight smile meant that she really did approve of their relationship.

  
Of course, it wasn't the real Caroline, Priya or Anthony; that would be disastrous. But it was the essence of them, the younger more innocent them that they might have been if it wasn't for life.

  
"You coming over to the Union building tonight, Topher? We've been cramming for this test for like, hours. We deserve a break," Caroline said around a mouthful of pastry.

  
"Come on, it'll be fun," Priya added.

  
Topher smiled. "Yeah, it will be fun."

 

*****

Boyd watched the spectacles from the security cameras, observing but never participating, never thinking about what was happening. Adelle seemed to know what was happening, Adelle knew just about everything that happened in her house. And, Boyd could see a certain logic to it; after all, a happy and sane genius was a productive genius.


End file.
